Home brew clubs compete at the Missouri Home Brewer's Mash Up

BOONE COUNTY - Home brew clubs from all over Missouri made beer at the Bur Oak Brewing Co.'s Missouri Home Brewer's Mash Up Saturday afternoon.

Craig Stichter, president of Bur Oak Brewing Co., said seven teams — two from Columbia, two from Kansas City, two from St. Louis and one from Kirksville — were competing to make a Trappist-style brew. Stichter said they didn't know what type of beer they would make until they got to the competition.

"The beers that are made here today are gonna be judged at the Missouri Beer Festival on April 23rd here in Columbia, and so, the Columbia Brewers Guild, which is made up of all five breweries here in town, are going to participate in the judging of these beers," Stichter said.

The winning group will have its brew sold at Bur Oak Brewing's Taproom.

Stichter said he and the other brewers at Bur Oak Brewing decided to open the event up to the public to teach them about the craft.

"We all started out as home brewers, so we thought it'd be a really good thing to invite a whole bunch of home brewers to the brewery just to home brew," he said. "Home brewing is a huge, huge hobby, and it's where a lot of the commercial breweries start from."

He said he wants people to know starting isn't difficult if you have the right tools.

"It's really not too complicated; however, there is a lot of science involved, and getting involved with a club just makes it that much easier to maybe enter into home brewing," Stichter said.